Istanbul Ticaret University brought together the masters of art with the students in the “Cinema and Theater Conversations” event, which was advised and moderated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gözde Sunal and Nursena Güngör, 2nd year student of the Department of Visual Communication Design, President of the Culture and Literature Community. In the event, which took place on May 20-22, 2024, leading names of the art world such as Ruhi Sarı, Şirin Gedikli, Hakan Bilgin, Gülşah Erdur, Şahin Altuğ, Dağhan Dönmez and Zihni Göktay shared their experiences in the sector and their art journey with the students.

Ruhi Sarı said that he started acting by chance and has been doing it continuously for 36 years.  Noting that the script and story are important for him to take part in a play, the famous actor said that he can act in any play where he has something to say.  Referring to the difficulties he experienced in the sector, Sarı said, “We have worked 52 hours in a past series. This was not a profession that could be done if it was not loved enough. In fact, our profession is just now reaching certain standards. It is only recently that I even wrote actor on my passport.”

In the continuation of the interview, script writer Şirin Gedikli stated that her life changed when she saw a municipality’s script writing poster after working in a different profession for many years and said, “I had been writing stories since high school. I continued amateur writing by writing stories and poems for my friend who made a radio program at the university. The play I wrote in the competition organized by the municipality, The Broken Flowers of the Streets, won first place and was exhibited. This is how script writing came into my life in a professional sense.”

The last participant of the first day was the famous actor Hakan Bilgin. Bilgin said that he had been a theater actor since primary school and decided to become an actor after the company he started after his university education went bankrupt.  Stating that he can play any role and be happy, Hakan Bilgin told the participants, “There is only one person who will make you happy, and that is you! Don’t rebel when looking at any event or life, try to be happy. Then life will be easier for you.”

Cinema and Theater Talks continued on Wednesday, May 22nd with Actor Zihni Göktay, Writer Dağhan Dönmez, Director Şahin Altuğ and Theater Actress Gülşah Erdur.

The first guest of the interview organized at Istanbul Commerce University Sütlüce Campus Open Amphitheater was veteran actor Zihni Göktay. Göktay stated that his father never took him to a match but always took him to the theater and said, “There was always theater in every corner of my life. I went on stage with a play in elementary school and I haven’t left the stage for 60 years. Like most actors, I grew up in the Eminönü People’s House, not the conservatory. My teacher was Muhsin Ertuğrul. In 1964, I went on stage professionally. My first movie was Tosun Pasha at the insistence of Kemal Sunal.”

Saying that he spent most of his life with theater, the veteran actor said, “I played 76 theater plays. The play Luxurious Life, which I played for 28 years, was one of the turning points of my life. I was even offered to enter the Guinness Book of Records with this role. The previous record for a play was 17 years.”

Talking about the interesting events that happened to him, the famous actor said, “When we were shooting the movie Tosun Pasha, there was a desert scene. We had to travel by camel. I had never ridden a camel before in my life. Even Akil Öztuna, who played my father-in-law in that scene, fell off the camel. He had internal bleeding and died. We continued to shoot the movie.”

Zihni Göktay told the students who are thinking of acting that they should make plenty of observations and read a lot.

The second guest of the interview was Theater Actress Gülşah Erdur. Erdur said that she met theater in Diyarbakır, the city where she was born and raised, and continued acting there. Stating that the event that she can call the turning point of her life changed after she told one of the actors after a theater play that she wanted to be an actress, Gülşah Erdur said, “The actor I told that I wanted to be an actor told me, ‘Acting is hard work, go be a butcher’. This motivated me more. Years later, I talked to him again in the same play. I can say that the turning point for me is the actor who told me to be a butcher.”

Stating that she never watched people who had played the same role before while preparing for the role, Erdur said, “My teacher Müşfik Kenter told me, ‘Whatever role you are going to play, be Gülşah’. I prefer not to watch those people in order not to be influenced by them. I will never forget what my teacher told me: “There is no bad play, only bad actors”. Even though I don’t like it, I watch the play until the end.”

The third guest of the event was Director Şahin Altuğ, who said that he is a storyteller rather than a director. Stating that directing is a way to tell a story, Şahin Altuğ said, “Like you, I went to university and graduated from the Faculty of Communication. I shot my first movie during my university years. I think it was really bad, but I didn’t have a story to tell then. The only thing I learned from my first movie was to keep trying. The words of a famous director “I shoot what I would watch myself” are very valuable to me. Because in the same way, I make movies that I can watch myself, even though at some times in my life I made things without a story to make money.”

Altuğ also gave advice to students about becoming a director or writer, saying, “Observe your surroundings, collect, accumulate and tell your own story. See yourself as a movie farmer. Even watch the elephant director from his first movie to his last movie. Realize his change over the years.”

He advised the participants to read Memduh Şevket Esendal’s book Ayaşlı ile Kiracıları.

Dağhan Dönmez, the last guest of the interview, started by answering the question of what cinema is. Stating that the movie theater is a magical place, the famous writer said, “A person is very different when he goes to the movies and when he leaves. He can never return as the same person. He is affected by the movie he watches. He even evaluates the movie according to his own life. If a movie fascinates you, that movie is good.”

Saying that people no longer believe in miracles, Dönmez said, “What we call miracles happen on the movie screen. Nowadays, movies serve as a tool for a new life. For this reason, cinema is a miraculous thing for us.”

Author Dağhan Dönmez also advised the students to read Yusuf Atılgan’s book The Idle Man.

The event ended with students’ questions to the participants and a photo shoot.